Pope urges peace, fighting poverty

Pope Francis celebrates his inauguration mass at at the Vatican on March 19, 2013 in Vatican City. A crowd of one million people were in St Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for the mass. Latin America's first pope was joined by world leaders and now leads and estimated 1.3 billion Catholics. UPI/Stefano Spaziani | License Photo

VATICAN CITY, March 22 (UPI) -- Pope Francis called on members of Roman Catholic Church's diplomatic service Friday to fight against poverty and work for peace.

The pope's comments came during his first audience with ambassadors of the Holy See, headquarters of the church, ANSA reported.

Francis asked the ambassadors to "work to build peace" and said "there can be no peace without truth."

The pope appealed to his audience to "protect those who suffer as a result of poverty."

Francis said there are "many poor people ... still in the world" and told the diplomatic corps to "guard those who suffer because of indigence."